Over on BBC One, Rillington Place is offering a fresh take on the notorious John Christie murders of the Forties and Fifties.

In Plain Sight (ITV) took as its subject the disturbingly real figure of Peter Manuel who, in the late Fifties, terrorised Scotland with a two-year killing spree that claimed at least eight lives, and possibly more.

However, unlike the other series, this was not primarily an exploration of the mind of a serial killer. Rather it took the more old fashioned, and in many ways more dramatically satisfying form of a battle between good and evil.

Martin Compston as Peter ManuelCredit:
ITV

Representing the good was solid, dependable family man William Muncie, a detective inspector in the Lanarkshire town of Uddingston. Douglas Henshall (who also breathes life into the fictional detective Jimmy Perez in the BBC’s Shetland) brought a palpable decency and belief in justice to this real-life small-town copper confronted with a force of evil appearing on his doorstep.

Wearing the black hat was Line of Duty star Martin Compston, who gave a chillingly convincing performance as Manuel, an arrogant, delusional, compunction-free criminal, a fully fledged sadistic narcissist whose primary pleasure in life was humiliating and inflicting pain on others.

Douglas Henshall as MuncieCredit:
ITV

Much of this opener was a carefully choreographed two-hander, introducing the principals and watching them make their opening moves in a deadly dance. But it also threw a sensitive light on Manuel’s victims. In particular, here, on Mary McLaughlan (Jenny Hulse) who not only suffered a horrific sexual assault but, in a tangibly distressing scene, was humiliated again in court when Manuel was allowed to conduct his own defence against the charge of rape.

A sense of the insularity of small town life, the innocence and prejudices of the times, and the crudeness of the police’s investigative methods, especially in the area of forensics, were all conveyed skilfully in Nick Steven’s tightly plotted script and John Strickland’s spare, almost austere direction. Already, In Plain Sight is exerting a powerful grip. It can only grow stronger as Manuel’s campaign of violence escalates and fear ripples out into the wider community.